GRAZE EXPECTATIONS
Village may lift ban on cattle
IT is a picturesque village in the Highlands where the pace of life is unhurried.
But the peace and tranquillity in Plockton could soon be disturbed – by grazing cattle.
Livestock were once a common sight on its streets until locals tired of cowpat-splattered pavements, chewed flowerbeds and trampled lawns.
For this reason, as well as fears over the risks from E.coli – carried in cows’ intestines – the animals were banned from the Ross-shire village and its beach 15 years ago under an agreement between the National Trust for Scotland and the village’s common grazings committee.
Now residents are being invited to a meeting next Monday to discuss reversing the ban on Highland cattle and Aberdeen Angus.
Common grazing committee member Charlie MacRae, former chairman of the community council, is against their return.
He said: ‘They have said all along that the ban was in place for 15 years and, of course, that will be up on November 1. But I can’t imagine where the cows are going to go. Things have changed in the last 15 years and there are no safe grazings for 44 head of cattle.
‘The street is so busy with cars and tourists. Adding cows to that will only make it dangerous. It will no doubt be a heated debate.’
Community council chairman Màiri Sìne Chaimbeul says people should keep an open mind. She said: ‘The common grazings committee want to host a meeting to put the issue of cattle on the main street and beach back onto the agenda. People should come to the meeting with an open mind. At the moment the community council does not have a view on the matter.’
For decades, cattle wandered around the village during the summer, regularly causing traffic jams by sitting down in the road.
Speaking in 2004, villager Elspeth MacRae said: ‘We are fed up with the mess and damage the cows cause.
‘There is one cow in particular, a black one, that keeps breaking through. She is determined to get at my roses and she just fouls everywhere. She was in my garden only yesterday and I had to chase her out in my dressing gown.’
A spokesman for the National Trust for Scotland, which owns the 6,795-acre Balmacara Estate, of which Plockton is a part, said: ‘We are interested to hear all points of view on the matter from crofters and other residents.’